NEC adds to OpenFlow / SDN Fabric with 10/40GbE core switch

Tuesday, 13 December 2011 10:42 Last Updated on Tuesday, 13 December 2011 10:43 Written by Don Clark

Today, NEC announced the ProgrammableFlow PF5820 10/40GbE OpenFlow switch, an extension of its Software Defined Network (SDN) architecture. The PF5820 joins the ProgrammableFlow controller, the PF5240 1/10GbE switch, and a visualization monitor which portrays end-to-end network flows at-a-glance.  ProgrammableFlow has been shipping since May and has been in production for a full year in our early adopters’ data center networks, including Nippon Express and Genesis Hosting Solutions. 

ProgrammableFlow has grabbed the attention of industry watchers, and a demo of our award-winning technology took the recent Network Field Day 2 two-day event by storm.  Listen in as Network Engineers Greg Ferro, Ivan Peopnjak, Derick Winkworthand Ethan Bankstalk about “Why OpenFlow has Mind-Melting Potential”on their 76^th podcast broadcast on November 20, archived at PacketPushers.net.

That said, we are adding to the leadership position NEC has staked out with this new core OpenFlow switch. This energy-efficient hardware provides high throughput, with low latency, delivering 1.28 Terabits of switching performance with a compact footprint.  The PF5820 is designed for building high performance, secure, and programmable networks. 

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Not Your Typical Orthodontist's Office

Thursday, 08 December 2011 13:35 Last Updated on Thursday, 08 December 2011 13:37 Written by John Wise

Appealing to kids and car enthusiasts, Dr. Dave Myers’ hot rod orthodontic office in Conway, AR, is designed to feel anything but usual. The whole space is transformed to a 50's era theme, from the walls and the floor to the memorabilia that makes patients excited to visit.

“All of the décor helps my patients feel more comfortable and creates a fun vibe within the office,” says Dr. Dave. “My patients aren’t just coming to get a check-up when they visit. When they step into my office, they go back into the 50’s with old cars, gas stations and drive-ins.”

And helping to make sure it all runs smoothly? NEC’s UNIVERGE SV8100 server, which helps streamline communication and keep up with Dr. Dave’s growing business.

“With the help of NEC, we are able to field calls, schedule appointments and give our patients better service,” said Dr. Dave. “NEC’s SV8100 server helps our office stay organized and share information efficiently with our satellite office, which is very important as we continue to grow.”

Check out some of the pictures online to see for yourself. Doesn’t it make you want to go visit Dr. Dave?

NEC leverages OpenFlow to reduce transmission overload on cellular networks

Friday, 18 November 2011 16:47 Last Updated on Monday, 28 November 2011 21:42 Written by Don Clark

NEC continues to be a leader in the OpenFlow innovation movement.  This week in Tokyo our colleagues in Japan at NEC Corporation are demonstrating another first:  OpenFlow for Android, at iExpo in Tokyo on November 11 and 12. 

Atsushi Iwata, NEC’s Senior Manager for System Platforms Research Labs, presented our findings at the Stanford Clean Slate CTO Summit this week.  Just a side note:  for those of you unfamiliar with Clean Slate, this is the interdisciplinary research program out of Stanford that has set the ambitious mission of “reinventing the Internet”.   A number of initiatives and innovations have come from Clean Slate, not the least of which is OpenFlow 1.0.  NEC, Deutsche Telekom and Stanford were the original charter members of Clean Slate, so as you can see we have been working with OpenFlow now for almost four years.

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The Emerging Corporate Data Center Challenge: How to Embrace the Service Provider Model

Monday, 14 November 2011 16:50 Last Updated on Friday, 18 November 2011 14:39 Written by Mike Alvarado

A good customer said something recently that really got my attention:

“IT infrastructure is moving quickly toward becoming delivered through a service model. Machines are becoming virtual running in secure data centers on large, partitionable machines.  Self-provisioned virtual IT resources are the key to success for a service model, which requires all aspects of the physical hardware to be abstracted or partitioned with permissions and given only to a tenant of the service.”

- Eric Miller, CEO, Genesis Hosting

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